St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-07-16
PEACE ON EARTH.
The shining Example of the Republic
Thoughts ON June Sunday.
JENNY JUNE.

tits the last Sunday in June am letter
behind, or rather day behind with my
letter, and must utilize this lovely Sunday
morning to fill the hiatus and cover GER
tain number of blank sheets with words that
are SO simple, yet capable of being such very
varied expressions of thought.
Sundays in June are acquiring q signif-
canoe for me. They have so often been
marked with white stone in my life. Ny
first days in the White mountains, in Ger
many, in the Black Forest, among the Eng
fish lakes, we're all Sundays in June, and
they were all lovely, bright, yet peaceful
days that rest like jewels without a flaw in
the memory. The quiet of a Sunday in June
in great city is even more remarkable than
this quiet in the country, because it is con-
trasted with the incessant roar and activity
of the week days. I remember so many
June Sundays in New York, when the whole
great city seemed to have been swept and
garnished, and lay peaceful and smiling
under the eye of God"
Last Sunday was in Boston, and
the only outward disturbance of the calm
and peace that should reign on that day was
the pleasant hustle and activity incident to
the presence and entertainment Of the "boys
in gray" the Southern Confederate soldiers
who were being treated Hospitality by the
Massachusetts, 'boys in blue" This was a
beautiful and inspiring element in June
Sunday, and it made me reflect if, in spite of
ell the agitation, all the noise and fury of
people who make business of creating
commotion, we were not truly tending
toward "Peace on earth"
The night before I had sat beside the
mayor of Boston, Mr.. O'Brien, at a wo-
mans dinner, where there was neither
wine nor tobacco, and found broad, lib
eral-minded man; standing certainly six
feet in his stockings, capable of seeing more
than one side to question and willing to
give as well as take chances He had been,
was told, elected by the Democrats in the
first place, but had proved so good mayor
that he was reelected by Democrats and In
dependent Republicans alike. This speaks
well for all round, the mayor and those who
elected him.
It is always more satisfactory to find peace
among those whom you know can fight
than among those whom you are NOR
ally certain could only buster and
run away, or among those who are sim
ply cowardly, and tremble at both fighting
and bluster. The latter quality is quite con-
fined to a certain class of men, and it only
imposes upon the ignorant and the weak. A
clustering man is harmless if no one takes
any notice of him. He explodes, and that
is the end of him for the time. His violence
is the protest Of the little manhood there is
in him against his own feebleness, and is
destitute of real strength or purpose But it
makes him disagreeable and to certain ex-
tent dangerous, for powder blackens and
scars, though it does not kill, and it creates
the soil and atmosphere in which deadly de-
struction is born and thrives.
One of the greatest examples that this world
has evers seen is in the conduct of our people
since the civil war. That war was forced
upon the North because certain leaders OF
public opinion at the South did not see that
the time had come when the great fact of
worldwide humanity must be accepted, and
property in human beings could no longer
be tolerated. Had they recognized this and
proposed or accepted some plan of gradual
release from such irreconcilable condition
the civil war could have been averted. But
we had not yet attained that universally of
wisdom which must precede peace. The war
became necessity and the experience les
son. It was the subsequent courage
Gus behavior on both sides, the wise
magnanimity and the good sense which went
directly to work to repair the mischief caused
by so frightful thing as modern warfare,
that was worthy of praise and emulsion
"a 10 wis So
than one-it makes business of fighting.
1t crowns it with an heroic halo-it grows,
like everything else, with what 1t feeds
upon, and suggests eternal reasons for coz
tinuation in the glory of conquest and the
acquisition of power. Fighting nations
have become so by being always engaged In
strife with some other nation, and fighters
die out, or turn their energies in some other
direction, if there is no one to fight with.
America could easily, after the war, have
become bulldozing, fighting nation. There
was plenty of pressure brought to bear t.,
keep the large armies in the field by those
whose occupation and importance would e.
with dismemberment and who had no incli-
nation to go back to private life and settle!
work. All subtle and selfish arguments werc
used, all appeals made in Congress an
through the press to revive old hatreds, t,
stimulate the lust of power, to awaken desir,.
and excite popular demand for conques
and usurpation, as employments for thu
forces which had been trained for the field
But wiser counsels prevailed. The armies
did disband, and the men went their several
ways. They took up again the struggle OF
individual life. for themselves and those VIII
were dependent upon them. Some Northern
men, in love with the SUMMER skies, r.
NAMED at the South and built up industries
where had formerly been bloodshed. Some
Southern men, and women too, came Nortl,.
and gradually imbibed fraternal feeling.
while sharing common cot and fndin.
common grounds Of fellowship among thos,
whom they had considered foes.
The great thing was that the war Wa
taken I'D as piece Of work that had to h.
done and laid down when it was fnishe,1
the energies that had been put into it seel,
ing at once more natural and normal fields fl
exercise, and so quickening the work VI